The chief executive of BioNTech says the German pharmaceutical company is confident that its coronavirus vaccine works against the U.K. variant, but further studies are needed to be completely sure.
Ugur Sahin said Tuesday that “we don’t know at the moment if our vaccine is also able to provide protection against this new variant,” but because the proteins on the variant are 99 per cent the same as the prevailing strains, BioNTech has “scientific confidence” in the vaccine.
Sahin said BioNTech is conducting further studies and hopes to have certainty within the coming weeks. BioNTech’s vaccine, developed together with U.S. pharmaceutical company Pfizer, is authorized for use in more than 45 countries.
As of late Tuesday afternoon, more than 77.7 million cases of COVID-19 had been reported worldwide, with more than 43.8 million cases considered recovered or resolved, according to a database maintained by U.S.-based Johns Hopkins University. The global death toll stood at more than 1.7 million.
What’s happening in Canada
As of 3:30 p.m. ET on Tuesday, Canada’s COVID-19 case count stood at 520,045, with 76,584 of those cases considered active. A CBC News tally of deaths stood at 14,402.
At a briefing on the COVID-19 situation in Canada on Tuesday, federal health officials said they had not yet seen a sign of the mutated COVID-19 variant that first emerged in Britain, which experts believe is more readily transmissible.
“What we can say is at this point in time, we have not detected this mutation,” Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Theresa Tam said.
Experts will continue to monitor the situation, she said, “but we will of course inform people as this goes along.”
Tam said more testing and sequencing would be done in the days ahead.
Quebec reported 2,183 new cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday, a single-day record, and 28 deaths. Hospitalizations increased to 1,055 in the hard-hit province, with 137 people in intensive care units.
The province also reported that a total of 437 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine were administered on Monday, for a total of 5,273 doses administered since vaccinations began on Dec. 14.
In Ontario, Premier Doug Ford said that he knows a sweeping shutdown set to begin across the province on Dec. 26 will be difficult, but that it is necessary as COVID-19 case numbers and hospitalizations rise.
At a news conference Tuesday, Ford also called on the federal government to implement pre-departure testing for travellers to Canada in light of a rapidly spreading variant of the virus in the United Kingdom.
“It’s a massive threat that we can’t take lightly,” he said. “Everyday we delay it, thousands of people are landing.”
WATCH | Ontario premier wants Ottawa to test for COVID-19 at airports:
Ontario Premier Doug Ford says residents of Ontario are at great risk because the federal government is not doing enough to protect them from threats that come from outside Canada’s borders. 1:03
Ontario Health Minister Christine Elliott on Tuesday reported 2,202 cases of COVID-19 and said more than 45,300 tests were completed. Hospitalizations also increased, according to the province, rising to 1,005 with 273 COVID-19 patients in intensive care units. Figures published by a Toronto critical care doctor and attributed to Critical Care Services Ontario (CCSO) put the ICU figure at 285.
The figures reported by the province daily can vary from the CCSO reports due to differences in how the numbers are compiled.
Warehouses, food processing plants, and manufacturing facilities are among the essential businesses exempt from the provincial shutdown — even though workplaces are a significant source of <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/COVID19?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#COVID19</a> infections, <a href=”https://twitter.com/trevorjdunn?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>@trevorjdunn</a> reports, leaving workers at risk:<a href=”https://t.co/pbEeo6133a”>https://t.co/pbEeo6133a</a>
Manitoba reported 155 new cases on Tuesday, continuing a downward trend after reporting 167 new cases on Monday, which was the first time since Nov. 3 that the province’s daily count of new cases had been below 200.
However, the province also reported 18 new deaths, just one shy of Manitoba’s record of 19 in a single day. Seven of the new deaths are related to the outbreak at Oakview Place care home in Winnipeg.
Across Manitoba, there are 380 people hospitalized with COVID-19, including 44 in intensive care.
As of Monday night, 1,192 front-line health workers in the province have received their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.
WATCH | Manitoba premier urges residents to stay vigilant despite vaccine rollout:
Despite the COVID-19 vaccine starting to be distributed, Manitoba Premier Brian Pallister warns residents that they cannot get complacent when it comes to following public health guidelines 1:12
Saskatchewan reported 181 new COVID-19 cases and three new deaths related to COVID-19 on Tuesday.
The province is also reporting 124 hospitalizations due to COVID-19, including 21 in intensive care.
Saskatchewan reported that as of Dec. 21, 1,519 people have received their first dose of vaccine as part of the Regina pilot vaccination phase.
In Alberta, a Calgary judge on Monday rejected an emergency application seeking a stay of the province’s COVID-19 public health restrictions, including bans on gatherings and mandatory masks.
A Calgary law firm and the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms appeared in court Monday morning to make an application for an emergency injunction staying the restrictions, alleging they violate constitutionally guaranteed rights.
Alberta reported 1,240 new COVID-19 cases and nine more COVID-19 deathson Monday.
Health officials in British Columbia said restrictions appear to be working to slow the spread of the virus, as they announced 1,667 new cases and 41 new deaths over a three-day period on Monday.
However, Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said the province’s curve is levelling at too high a plateau, with significant growth of new cases in the Interior and the north of B.C.
“With restrictions in place, the number of people that have had close contact has decreased, but it is still a substantial number,” she said.
In the North, no new cases were reported in any of the territories on Tuesday. Yukon, which reported two recoveries, now has no active cases of COVID-19.
In Atlantic Canada, Nova Scotia reported seven cases on Tuesday, while Newfoundland and Labrador reported one new case and New Brunswick reported two new cases, both in the Moncton region.
Prince Edward Island reported no new cases on Tuesday. The province expects to have 1,500 people vaccinated against COVID-19 by the end of the day.
What’s happening in the U.S.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, speaks with Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar before receiving his first dose of the new Moderna COVID-19 vaccine on Tuesday. (Patrick Semansky/Reuters)
The top infectious disease expert in the United States has received the initial dose of the newest COVID-19 vaccine alongside other federal health leaders who helped oversee its development. Dr. Anthony Fauci received his first shot of the two-dose regimen with National Institutes of Health director Dr. Francis Collins and Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar. Each received the vaccine co-developed by NIH and Massachusetts drugmaker Moderna.
The vaccinations on Tuesday at the NIH campus outside Washington, D.C., are part of a broader government effort to bolster public confidence in the safety of two COVID-19 vaccines recently cleared by U.S. regulators. Six health-care workers from the NIH’s research hospital also received vaccination shots at the event.
The U.S. Congress, meanwhile, has passed a $900 billion US pandemic relief package that would finally deliver long-sought cash to businesses and individuals and resources to vaccinate a nation confronting a frightening surge in COVID-19 cases and deaths.
Lawmakers tacked on a $1.4 trillion catch-all spending bill and thousands of pages of other end-of-session business in a massive bundle of bipartisan legislation as Capitol Hill prepared to close the books on the year. The bill approved Monday night went to President Donald Trump for his signature, which was expected in the coming days.
The bill combines coronavirus-fighting funds with financial relief for individuals and businesses. It would establish a temporary $300-a-week supplemental jobless benefit and a $600 direct stimulus payment to most Americans, along with a new round of subsidies for hard-hit businesses, restaurants and theatres, as well as money for schools, health-care providers and renters facing eviction.
The U.S. has seen more than 18 million COVID-19 cases and more than 319,000 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins.
Volunteers help build a mobile field hospital at UCI Medical Center on Monday in Orange, Calif. The state’s overwhelmed hospitals are setting up makeshift beds for coronavirus patients, and some facilities in hard-hit Los Angeles County are drawing up emergency plans in case they have to limit how many people receive life-saving care. (Jae C. Hong/The Associated Press)
Californians, meanwhile, were being warned it is too risky to celebrate the winter holidays normally, and if they don’t change plans, a deadly explosion of coronavirus cases could follow. The state has recorded a half-million coronavirus cases in the last two weeks, and Gov. Gavin Newsom said Monday that a projection model shows California could be facing nearly 100,000 hospitalizations within a month.
“Another spike in cases in the winter holidays will be disastrous for our hospital system and ultimately will mean many more people simply won’t be with us in 2021,” Los Angeles County Public Health director Barbara Ferrer said bluntly during a briefing.
The current surge is overwhelming emergency rooms in both urban centres and rural areas, including along the Mexican border, where a small hospital system warns it is quickly running out of patient beds.
Conditions at El Centro Regional Medical Center in the southeast corner of the state are desperate — even worse than during a summer surge that caught the attention of the governor, hospital officials said.
“We don’t have space for anybody. We’ve been holding patients for days because we can’t get them transferred, can’t get beds for them,” said Dr. Alexis Lenz, an emergency room physician at the medical centre in Imperial County, home to 180,000 people.
What’s happening around the world
In the Asia-Pacific region, Taiwan has reported a locally transmitted case of COVID-19 — the first in 253 days.
The country’s Central Epidemic Command Center said on Tuesday that the patient is a 30-year old female. She was found to be a close contact of a foreign pilot who was previously confirmed as having contracted the coronavirus.
Health officials are in touch with 167 contacts of both individuals and have asked 13 of them to quarantine at home. An official said the pilot, who did not mention the woman as a close contact, may be found in violation of Taiwan’s epidemic prevention laws and could be fined.
Taiwan has largely shielded itself during the pandemic, recording just seven deaths and 770 confirmed COVID-19 cases.
A medical staff member wearing protective gear takes a swab from a visitor to test for COVID-19 at a temporary testing station outside Seoul railway station in South Korea on Tuesday. (Jung Yeon-je/AFP/Getty Images)
South Korea will prohibit private social gatherings of five or more people and shut down ski resorts and major tourist spots nationwide starting on Christmas Eve as it contends with a surge in coronavirus infections.
The restrictions announced Tuesday extend to a national level similar rules set earlier by authorities in the Seoul metropolitan area. It is the most serious step the government has taken to reinstate physical distancing after months of easing.
India recorded 19,556 new cases of the coronavirus, according to Health Ministry data on Tuesday, its lowest daily increase since July 3.
In Europe, Ireland’s prime minister said coronavirus restrictions will be tightened in the country amid concerns that the new variant of the virus identified in southeast England has spread across the Irish Sea.
In an address to the country, Prime Minister Micheal Martin said the government was acting “quickly and aggressively” in response to rising infection rates and that it was proceeding on the assumption that the new variant, which is said to be more virulent than existing strains, was already in Ireland.
He said that in the last week, the country had seen “extraordinary growth in the spread of the virus.” Figures, he said, suggest the virus is growing by about 10 per cent a day.
Among the new restrictions to be imposed over the coming days and to last until Jan. 12, Martin said restaurants and pubs selling food will have to close at 3 p.m. on Dec. 24. “Wet pubs” — those that don’t sell food — are already closed. Shops and schools can stay open, he said.
Germany has expanded its ban on passenger flights from the U.K. to forbid passenger transport by rail, bus and ship. Health Minister Jens Spahn said the measure took effect at midnight, a day after flights were halted. A similar measure applies to South Africa, where a new variant of the coronavirus has also been detected.
Tessa Boulton, left, takes a swab test from triathlete Michael Kruse, dressed as Santa Claus, at a testing centre at the Helios Clinic in Schwerin, Germany on Monday. Kruse traditionally hands out Christmas presents at the clinic’s children’s ward at Christmas and therefore has to be tested in advance. (Jens Buettner/dpa/The Associated Press)
The measures apply through Jan. 6. There are exceptions for freight and mail transport, as well as for medical and humanitarian flights. A string of European and other countries halted air travel from Britain because of a new and seemingly more contagious strain of the coronavirus in England.
A leading German virologist who was initially skeptical about reports that the strain was much more contagious voiced concern after seeing more data. Christian Drosten, a professor of virology at Berlin’s Charite hospital, tweeted that “unfortunately it doesn’t look good.” But Drosten added that the mutation has so far increased only in areas where there was a high or rising rate of infection, meaning that reducing contacts works against its spread.
In Africa, Sudan will ban travellers from Britain, the Netherlands and South Africa beginning Dec. 23.
In the Middle East, Oman said on Monday it’s temporarily suspending all entry to the country by foreigners and halting international passenger flights over worries about a fast-spreading new strain of the coronavirus.
Oman said the one-week closure of all official ports of entry would begin on Tuesday “to protect community members from the severity of infection and the speed of spread.”
In the Americas, Brazil trailed only the U.S. in total coronavirus cases, with more than 7.2 million cases reported and more than 187,000 deaths. Brazilian health regulator Anvisa said it had certified the production standards of CoronaVac, China’s Sinovac-produced coronavirus vaccine candidate.
Colombia’s president said that Venezuelan migrants who are living in the country without residence permits won’t be given free COVID-19 vaccines when the doses arrive — possibly leaving hundreds of thousands unvaccinated.
Guatemala and Panama will restrict entry to travellers who have recently visited Britain or South Africa.
VANCOUVER – Contract negotiations resume today in Vancouver in a labour dispute that has paralyzed container cargo shipping at British Columbia’s ports since Monday.
The BC Maritime Employers Association and International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 514 are scheduled to meet for the next three days in mediated talks to try to break a deadlock in negotiations.
The union, which represents more than 700 longshore supervisors at ports, including Vancouver, Prince Rupert and Nanaimo, has been without a contract since March last year.
The latest talks come after employers locked out workers in response to what it said was “strike activity” by union members.
The start of the lockout was then followed by several days of no engagement between the two parties, prompting federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon to speak with leaders on both sides, asking them to restart talks.
MacKinnon had said that the talks were “progressing at an insufficient pace, indicating a concerning absence of urgency from the parties involved” — a sentiment echoed by several business groups across Canada.
In a joint letter, more than 100 organizations, including the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, Business Council of Canada and associations representing industries from automotive and fertilizer to retail and mining, urged the government to do whatever it takes to end the work stoppage.
“While we acknowledge efforts to continue with mediation, parties have not been able to come to a negotiated agreement,” the letter says. “So, the federal government must take decisive action, using every tool at its disposal to resolve this dispute and limit the damage caused by this disruption.
“We simply cannot afford to once again put Canadian businesses at risk, which in turn puts Canadian livelihoods at risk.”
In the meantime, the union says it has filed a complaint to the Canada Industrial Relations Board against the employers, alleging the association threatened to pull existing conditions out of the last contract in direct contact with its members.
“The BCMEA is trying to undermine the union by attempting to turn members against its democratically elected leadership and bargaining committee — despite the fact that the BCMEA knows full well we received a 96 per cent mandate to take job action if needed,” union president Frank Morena said in a statement.
The employers have responded by calling the complaint “another meritless claim,” adding the final offer to the union that includes a 19.2 per cent wage increase over a four-year term remains on the table.
“The final offer has been on the table for over a week and represents a fair and balanced proposal for employees, and if accepted would end this dispute,” the employers’ statement says. “The offer does not require any concessions from the union.”
The union says the offer does not address the key issue of staffing requirement at the terminals as the port introduces more automation to cargo loading and unloading, which could potentially require fewer workers to operate than older systems.
The Port of Vancouver is the largest in Canada and has seen a number of labour disruptions, including two instances involving the rail and grain storage sectors earlier this year.
A 13-day strike by another group of workers at the port last year resulted in the disruption of a significant amount of shipping and trade.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
The Royal Canadian Legion says a new partnership with e-commerce giant Amazon is helping boost its veterans’ fund, and will hopefully expand its donor base in the digital world.
Since the Oct. 25 launch of its Amazon.ca storefront, the legion says it has received nearly 10,000 orders for poppies.
Online shoppers can order lapel poppies on Amazon in exchange for donations or buy items such as “We Remember” lawn signs, Remembrance Day pins and other accessories, with all proceeds going to the legion’s Poppy Trust Fund for Canadian veterans and their families.
Nujma Bond, the legion’s national spokesperson, said the organization sees this move as keeping up with modern purchasing habits.
“As the world around us evolves we have been looking at different ways to distribute poppies and to make it easier for people to access them,” she said in an interview.
“This is definitely a way to reach a wider number of Canadians of all ages. And certainly younger Canadians are much more active on the web, on social media in general, so we’re also engaging in that way.”
Al Plume, a member of a legion branch in Trenton, Ont., said the online store can also help with outreach to veterans who are far from home.
“For veterans that are overseas and are away, (or) can’t get to a store they can order them online, it’s Amazon.” Plume said.
Plume spent 35 years in the military with the Royal Engineers, and retired eight years ago. He said making sure veterans are looked after is his passion.
“I’ve seen the struggles that our veterans have had with Veterans Affairs … and that’s why I got involved, with making sure that the people get to them and help the veterans with their paperwork.”
But the message about the Amazon storefront didn’t appear to reach all of the legion’s locations, with volunteers at Branch 179 on Vancouver’s Commercial Drive saying they hadn’t heard about the online push.
Holly Paddon, the branch’s poppy campaign co-ordinator and bartender, said the Amazon partnership never came up in meetings with other legion volunteers and officials.
“I work at the legion, I work with the Vancouver poppy office and I go to the meetings for the Vancouver poppy campaign — which includes all the legions in Vancouver — and not once has this been mentioned,” she said.
Paddon said the initiative is a great idea, but she would like to have known more about it.
The legion also sells a larger collection of items at poppystore.ca.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
